The process of licensing new reactors for Plant Vogtle and similar nuclear projects could be delayed because of the absence of data needed to certify the new reactor's design, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Southern Nuclear's Plant Vogtle and utilities in South Carolina, Florida, Alabama and North Carolina are planning projects that will use the new AP1000 reactors to be manufactured by Westinghouse.
Part of the commission's role is to certify the design of the new reactors -- a process that must be completed before applicants can be issued a "combined operating license" to authorize actual construction.
In an Aug. 27 letter to Robert Sisk, Westinghouse's manager of AP1000 licensing and customer interface, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission warned that important review schedules have been repeatedly revised because of the company's "inability to make adequate design information available to the staff."
In particular, the letter said, a chapter on engineered safety features is not complete. "Westinghouse has not met its commitments to provide the necessary design information in a timely manner and as a result has further impacted the review schedule."
The NRC's concerns included technical issues associated with the containment sump and its performance and downstream effects, said the letter, written by David B. Matthews, director of the NRC's Division of New Reactor Licensing.
Westinghouse had been warned earlier this year -- in an April 3 letter from Mr. Matthews -- that continued delays in certification of the reactor's design could affect the issuance of combined operating licenses sought by utilities planning to build new reactors.
Roger Hannah, an NRC spokes man in Atlanta, said it is too early to tell whether the delays will change construction schedules for new plants.
"But the bottom line is, we would not issue a COL (combined operating license) until a final rule was finished certifying the reference design," he said.
Plant Vogtle is already at an advanced stage of its application, having recently received its Early Site Permit that is a precursor to obtaining the combined operating license.
Beth Thomas, a spokesman for Southern Nuclear, the plant's parent company, said it is unlikely any design issues would affect the new reactors' projected startup dates.
"We don't anticipate any changes to our commercial operation date based on this development," she said. Vogtle's Unit 3 is projected to start operations in 2016 and Unit 4 is scheduled to go online in 2017.
Tom Clements, southeastern nuclear campaign director for Friends of the Earth, said the design certification was supposed to be finished in 2006.
"It thus seems that we are once again at the place where no AP1000 certification schedule exists and the summer 2012 time-frame for final reactor approval may once again be in jeopardy," Mr. Clements said.
Comments
None of the utilities pursuing new nuclear recators and the subsidies for them should have started their planning until the reactor designs were approved. Once again, the cart is way ahead of the horse and this could be another costly mistake which brings the projects down. Next time, try conservation & efficiency first!
Lack of safety design features is what has held up the French AREVA built new reactor in Finland, where they are already 3 years behind schedule and at 50% cost overrun. These reactors are too expensive, too slow and too ill planned to be of any use to us. We need to go back to the energy drawing board and come up with a cheaper, faster, safer and more realistic plan for making and using electricity. Offshore wind could power our state (DOE stats) not to mention biomass and bio fuels. Coal and nuclear are things of the past and should be put out of their misery, and replaced by truly green, clean and safe energy sources.
SCEagleEye: I agree that the wagon is in front of the horse in this case. Its unfortunate that Westinghouse doesn't have all of their ducks in line yet, even though it might just be a case of them being too big and beaurocratic which causes delays in getting out the info the NRC requests. But, it's also a product of the extremely long process of funding and licensing a new nuclear plant. Especially with everyone that is against them in America. You have to start early just to get it started because you never know when the NRC or the public is going to through another wrench in it and delay the process, however right they may be.
Reindeargirl: You live in a beautiful fantasy world that I wish I was a part of. Unfortunately that means we have to go with very expensive, unreliable sources of power. The government has to force these on the public because they are not feasible everywhere, which is not always the best option. Nuclear will supply us for a long time and be friendly to the air while we develop other sources of power. If America would also loosen up when it comes to reprocessing fuel, like France does, then our waste problem would be reduced to almost nothing.
There hasn't been even the slightest hint that private money will fund new reactors. This can't be yet another debt foisted onto tax payers. As far as reporcessing goes, it creates a hug volume of waste and exists only where its supported by a socialist approach, like in France, with the government-owned company AREVA. The UK is getting out of reprocessing at is disastrous THORP plant, all countries which used to have AREVA reprocess their spent fuel in France have stopped doing that and Japan's $20 billion Rokkasho reprocessing plant has been unable to start after two years of trying and just got another 1.5-year delay. Reporcessing is thus a failure. reprocessing is an environmental & economic disaster but that doesn't stop the lies by self-interests which try to say it's the way to go. This nonsense will be stoppedat SRS.
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